Patsy T. Mink: “H.R. 3763, the Corporate Accountability, Responsibility, and Transparency Act of 2002, does not go far enough to reform…”

“H.R. 3763, the Corporate Accountability, Responsibility, and Transparency Act of 2002, does not go far enough to reform the accounting industry and strengthen corporate disclosure rules, which are critical to restoring investor confidence, which was shattered by the collapse of the Enron Corporation. The implosion of what was once the Nation's seventh largest company and dominant energy-trading enterprise proved that the integrity of the system of checks and balances that is supposed to prevent an Enron-like debacle has been compromised. The system's failure has devastated thousands of individuals and their families. Enron's employees, the vast majority of whom were unaware of the breadth and scope of the company's questionable financial dealings, lost not only their jobs but also much of their life savings. Enron's executives fared considerably better, cashing in $1.1 billion in stock, as they overstated the company's revenues and concealed much of its debt in off-balance-sheet partnerships. The employees of Arthur Andersen LLP, the auditing firm responsible for verifying the accuracy of Enron's books, have similarly been victimized by the actions of a relative handful of Anderson partners and personnel that chose to overlook Enron's fraudulent bookkeeping activities. Today, Arthur Andersen LLP faces huge civil lawsuits and is steadily losing clients, thereby causing many of its employees to become unemployed.”